Written by Stephanie Namahoe Launiu
Pele… Pele-honua-mea, Pele of the sacred earth…Madame Pele…Tutu Pele…Ka-wahine-‘ai-honua, the Earth-Eating Woman. These are the many names of Pele, the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess.
Is she real? Or is she a myth? A Hawaiian legend?
Hawaiians have shared the stories of Pele for centuries. You may have heard different versions, and we will leave it up to you to discern the truth.
Pele’s Destruction
In 2018, it didn’t matter to hundreds of homeowners on the Big Island of Hawai‘i whether Pele was a myth or not. In the Puna district’s Leilani Estates subdivision, outbreaks of lava fountains created red-hot rivers that eventually destroyed over 700 homes. The first lava fountain unexpectedly popped up in someone’s backyard without warning. Lava then flowed non-stop for four months. The lava outbreaks were 35 miles away from Volcanoes National Park where tourists go to visit the Kīlauea volcano craters. The lava streams flowed both underground and on the surface. More than 14 square miles of land were covered by lava, but 875 acres of new land were created as the hot flowing lava hit the nearby ocean and hardened.
This is Pele’s timeless signature on the Hawaiian Islands – destroy and create. Destroy and regenerate.
The Nature of Pele
In Hawaiian storytelling, Pele is the goddess of volcanoes. Known for her fiery temperament, Pele is embodied by lava and the natural forces that surround volcanic eruptions – the hot winds that blow and ka-ula-wena, the clouds over the Hawaiian volcano that glow tinged with red during an eruption. Pele personifies fire and volcanism in all its forms. The volcanic landscape is her handiwork.
Pele’s Childhood on Kahiki
The oral history of the Hawaiians says that Pele was born in the distant southern land of Kahiki and voyaged to the Hawaiian Islands in search of a suitable home. Mysteriously, the story of Pele’s search for a fiery home parallels modern scientific knowledge of how the islands were created. How could the ancient Hawaiians possibly have known the order in which the islands were formed? But it appears as if they did.
Although Pele came from the Southern Pacific, she first landed on the northernmost inhabited Hawaiian island and worked her way down the island chain in search of a home. And this is exactly how the Hawaiian Islands were formed. The Hawaiian islands in the north were formed by volcanic activity and each of the islands to the south were formed in order after that. Was Pele the creator of each island as she journeyed to find a home?
When she was born, Pele’s father Kū-waha-ilo, and Haumea, her mother, knew that her destiny was to be a dynamic woman. Pele’s oldest sister, Nāmakaokahaʻi, was a sea goddess and was jealous of Pele because she would be her rival when she was grown. Pele was beautiful and had special power that Hawaiians call mana.
Conflict and Rivalry
When Pele had gotten a little older, she was given an ō’ō, or digging stick by her Uncle Lonomakua. They named the stick Pāoa with its amazing mana. Lonomakua knew that Pele held unspeakable natural powers and he instructed her how to keep her powers under control with the help of Pāoa. One day when her uncle was gone, Pele accidentally started a fire and it burned their home to complete ashes. Her red-hot nature and embodiment of heat and fire had become evident. After this catastrophic accident, her oldest sister, Nāmakaokahaʻi, was in swift pursuit of Pele.
Pele’s parents told her that it was her responsibility to find a safe place that their family could call home. They told her to carry the youngest of her sisters who was beloved by all, Hiʻiaka-i-ka-poli-o-pele, also known as Hi’iaka, in the form of an egg, on her journey. Pele carried Hi‘iaka gently in her bosom throughout her travels. Hi’iaka is the patron goddess of hula dancers. This is why you will see hula dancers often performing at Kīlauea Volcano. They are honoring Pele because she is not only the creative force of the volcano, but she also protected hula until it could come forth in Hawai‘i.
Pele’s Journey to Hawai‘i
Accompanying Pele were her other siblings and her brother, Kamohoaliʻi, the Shark God. Her family set sail into the Pacific on a large canoe named Honua-ia-kea, the Great Expansive Earth. As they traveled, they could hear the waves of Nāmakaokahaʻi following them.
Nāmakaokahaʻi chased them as they sailed through the northwest Hawaiian islands. She caused the oceans to drive her family away whenever they approached land. After many days they reached the island of Kaua’i. Pele took out her ō’ō and burrowed into the earth forming a hill called Pu’uopele, the hill of Pele. The red fire glow was mirrored in the clouds over the pit she had dug. Nāmakaokahaʻi spotted this and hurried to attack. Huge tidal waves forced Pele’s family to escape to the island of Oʻahu to the south.
On Oʻahu, Pele again dug with her ō’ō stick Pāoa. Pele dug a fire pit as she had done before, but Nāmakaokahaʻi’s salt waters splashed into it and doused the flames. Today this place that ancient Hawaiians called Leʻahi (meaning “no fire”) is known as the well-known landmark Diamond Head.
The Death of Pele?
Voyaging southward to Molokaʻi and Maui, Pele again tried many times to start a fire without luck. After a while on the western slopes of Mount Haleakalā on Maui, Pele had built up her resolve to fight Nāmakaokahaʻi until one of them died. They fought in hand-to-hand combat until Nāmakaokahaʻi ripped the body of Pele into many pieces. Pele’s broken bones lie in a district on Maui called Kahikinui on the slopes of Haleakalā. There is still a pile of broken lava that is named Nā-iwi-o-pele, the bones of Pele, lying on the seashore a few miles south of Hana.
Pele Finds a Permanent Home
While she rejoiced at the death of Pele, Nāmakokahaʻi looked off into the distance and saw the volcano known as Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaiʻi. Erupting lava fountains hundreds of feet high raged from its caldera. Nāmakokahaʻi knew that the spirit of Pele was alive forever on the neighboring island and that she could never overcome her.
After reaching the island of Hawaiʻi with the help of friendly gods, Pele continued on her way toward the volcano Kīlauea. At its summit, Pele decided to dig the ground with Pāoa. Favorable omens appeared along with rumbling earth and fire. Pele decided that her permanent home would be in the crater of Halemaʻumaʻu at the volcano Kīlauea.
Pele in the 21st Century
There in Halemaʻumaʻu, Pele is said to still live today. From Halemaʻumaʻu, Pele keeps watch on the Puna and Kaʻū districts where she erupts from time to time showing all that she still has the power to destroy and create. Her spontaneous and elusive nature shows through in the luminous lava lakes, exploding lava fountains, and streams of flowing lava from Kīlauea.
Pele is considered ʻohana (family)to many Hawaiians and she is revered. She is an ʻaumakua, a deified ancestor for some people in the Puna and Kaʻū districts.
Once you visit her volcanic realm, you will sense her power. If you are fortunate enough to be on Hawai‘i Island during an eruption, you will witness it. The presence of Pele-honua-mea is not to be feared but to be acknowledged as a force of nature. When you visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Island of Hawai‘i, remember to do so respectfully. It is against federal law to remove anything from Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park including lava rocks. So don’t take anything home with you.
Some people say that Pele curses anyone taking lava from Hawai‘i. Post offices on the Big Island receive hundreds of pounds of lava rock mailed from former visitors who slipped a rock into their suitcase and met with bad luck or tragedy after getting home. You can make up your own mind whether the risk is worth it.
So is Pele real or is she a myth? Pele is real. Without a doubt. Wherever there is lava flowing in Hawai’i, wherever there is heat bubbling underground, you can be assured that Pele lives on.
